Marriage in Ancient India (An Old and Rare Book)

For proper understanding of Hindu social organisation, the study of the system of marriage in ancient India is a necessity. A study of the origin and development of this important aspect of Hindu way of life is what has been attempted in the present book which has been divided into eight chapters. The itemes dealt with are: Marriage its origin, limitations of marriage, selection of bride and bridegroom, the sacrament of marriage, monogamy, polygamy & polyandry and the rights and duties of husband and wife.

The original contribution of the work consists in presenting a total perspective of the Hindu system of marriage not yet attempted in any work on the subject published till date.

Dr. Maniram Sharma was born in 1936 at village Machhera in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh. He did his graduation from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. Subsequently be obtained the degrees of M.A. in Ancient Indian History Culture and Archaeology, M.A. in Modern History and Ph.D. from University of Jabalpur. He is in teaching profession since 1963. Presently he holds the post of Reader in Ancient Indian History, Culture & Archaeology in University of Jabalpur.

The present work is result of Dr. Sharma's deep investigations in the subject which has earned him the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Jabalpur. A good number of research papers published in different journals are to the credit of Dr. Sharma.

For proper understanding of the Hindu social organisation, the study of the system of marriage in ancient India is a necessity. For the Hindus marriage was a sacrament and its fulfilment alone led to proper development of a man's personality. Marriage was thought to be a Yajna or a pious act and a man who did not enter the household stage after marriage was considered to be impious or Yajna-Vihina. A study of the origin, and development of this important aspect of Hindu social organisation is thus a desideraum and this is what has been attempted in the present work. The author is conscious of the fact that some works of eminence dealing with Hindu marriage have been published earlier. Most of them however, deal with one or other specialised aspect of this subject. No work exists that provides a total perspective of the Hindu system of marriage and this is the aim of the present work. The present study has been presented in eight different chapters dealing with importance of marriage, its origin limitations, marriage able age, selection of bride and bridegroom, the sacrament of marriage, monogamy and polygamy and the rights and duties of husband and wife. This work was originally written as a thesis which was approved by the University of Jabalpur for award of the degree of Doctor of Philoso phy in 1974. It could not be sent to the press on account of various factors. This long gap has been fully utilised to incorporate latest views on the subject.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages